A tale of two Schenectadys

U.S. News & World Report two weeks ago focused on Schenectady as it described the economic challenges Gov. Eliot Spitzer will face as he attempts to revive the upstate
economy.

“Once known as ‘the city that lights and hauls the world,’ Schenectady has become a dim bulb and the first stop in a long, bleak road that runs through much of upstate New York, a countryside pockmarked with a series of eerie industrial relics and shuttered mill towns,” the magazine wrote in a news item entitled, “The Forgotten New York.”

Not so fast, Schenectady’s mayor, Brian U. Stratton, fired back.

“(W)e have brought more than $150 million in new business investment to our downtown, including a new hotel, cinema, restaurants, high-tech offices, and loft housing,” Stratton wrote in a letter appearing in the current issue. “The sprawling riverfront property, once
home to the American Locomotive Co., the rusting hulk pictured as emblematic of upstate in general, is targeted for a 65-acre, multiuse redevelopment project that will include housing, businesses, and recreation.”

He concluded by saying that “Schenectady’s future is brighter than it’s been in decades.”